Grand Theft Auto: Shadow of the Raven
by knightofdestiny
Summary: Leon Masters and his sister leave their hometown after a fit of rage causes him to make a bad decision, as he doesn't want her to suffer for his idiocy. People can be single minded in their quest for revenge though, and Leon figures this out the hard way. Throw in a crazy friend, a former hitman , and a few bank robbers, and things keep on escalating...
1. Prologue

**A/N: **_So here's the start of what I plan on being an epic tale. It's actually a reboot of a story I started writing several years back. After looking back on it one day, I realized that it wasn't all that good, mainly because I was too eager to get to the fun parts of the story and didn't bother with good pacing. Well, I intend to fix that here. It won't be a super boring ride, of course. This is GTA, where crazy shootouts is the norm. Don't expect a shootout every chapter, but I'll do my best to keep your attention. So, without further ado, let's get this show on the road!  
_

Grand Theft Auto:

Shadow of the Raven

Prologue

_August 15, 2012_

_Cordell City, USA  
_

The dark green Jester barreled down the street, ignoring street lights, stop signs, and every traffic law known to man. The car didn't run anyone over, thankfully, but it was a very good thing that it was two o'clock in the morning and few people were out on the streets. The sole occupant of the car wasn't aiming to hurt any innocent people on purpose, but his vision was tinged with far too much red for him to give more than a passing thought to the slim number of pedestrians he encountered on his wild drive.

Leon Masters could be an aggressive man when he wanted to be, though he normally maintained a calm demeanor. He wasn't a stranger to anger, however, and at this particular time, he was ticked off beyond belief. His temper most often flared when people attempted to screw him over, or take advantage of his innate desire to help others. Trying to kill him also put him in a mood, though anyone would be put off in such a case. None of those things had him going right now, though. No, there was only one thing, one simple act that set him off this much, and that was when people tried to hurt his family. Well, just his sister, mainly, since his parents were dead and he knew of no other relatives of his. This little fact only upped the level of protectiveness he exhibited for his sister, as losing her would more than likely drive him over the edge. Anyone who fucked with her would feel his wrath, and it would not be pretty. History could attest to that.

Sirens blared somewhere fairly close, alerting Leon to the presence of the police in the nearby area, but it didn't deter him one bit. He couldn't have cared less about being pulled over for his traffic infractions, which probably numbered over a hundred by now. By the time he was finished with his intended plans, the police would have far more reason to arrest him. He'd be long gone before they even knew it was him though, so that particular issue didn't bother him much. Hell, he'd already done more than enough in his lifetime to warrant a permanent residence in prison, so adding a few more notches to his personal record was never going to bother him anyway. Besides, his sister had been wronged, and very nearly had something precious and irreplaceable taken from her. For that, the perpetrator had to die, and Leon was all too happy to administer the punishment himself.

Annoyingly, it wasn't such a simple plan to execute. There were people he had to get through first if he wanted to reach his target. Granted, not much in Leon's life was simple, but this was an unwanted obstacle in his quest for blood. No, it wasn't quite unwanted, if he were honest. Sure there was only a single person he absolutely needed to kill, but those who stood with that person were just as guilty, even if they hadn't pulled the offending stunt themselves. In fact, all of the people who were occupying the location Leon was currently headed to were naught more than thieves and murderers. Leon was a thief and a murderer himself, but he had good reason for his actions: taking care of his sister. It wasn't his preferred way of achieving that goal, but when you're twelve years old, have no parents to guide you, and have to feed your only sister somehow, crime is really the only option one has. That, or an orphanage, but Leon wasn't satisfied with that route, not wanting to run the risk of being separated from his sister, so he hadn't bothered with that option.

It had been six years since that fateful day he'd decided to become a criminal in order to provide for his sister. Since then, his skills had grown considerably, and he was a fairly respected hired gun and thief among the ranks of one particular organization he'd done most of his work for. Pure intentions aside, he didn't fancy himself as any better than the goons he worked with. Killing was killing, no matter the reason. Leon had no intentions to try and justify his actions to anyone, even himself. If someone asked about his motivations, he'd just say he needed the money. If someone found out the exact reason for needing that cash, he'd insist that it didn't make him better than that person. Leon became accustomed to what he had to do to survive, and left it at that. None of that mattered to Leon at this moment, however, except who his enemies were.

They were known as the Raven Syndicate, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Cordell City. This was the group that Leon had done so much for, and had become well known within. It had taken a lot of convincing on Leon's part to get them to let him work for them back when he was twelve, and his words didn't mean all that much to the ears of most in the group. It was their leader, a man named Jerome Waters, who'd taken pity on Leon and allowed him to work for them. Not as a member, but as contracted help. That had suited Leon just fine, since he wouldn't be bound by the rules and restrictions that came with being a full-fledged gang member. It also meant that he could refuse jobs that pushed at his moral boundaries a little too much, as there were lines that he wasn't willing to cross. Jerome seemed to understand that and, after a while, stopped offering the more depraved jobs to Leon altogether. The man appeared to be a good person, or at least as good as a crime boss could be, and Leon trusted him implicitly. Until now, that is.

Leon never expected Jerome to pull a move like the one he did, but it was stupid of Leon to outright assume that. A criminal, no matter how kind hearted they seemed, was still a criminal at the end of the day, with all that entailed. Leon had put too much trust in the man, and his sister had almost paid for that mistake. The more he thought about it, the more Leon came to believe that this was some kind of karmic payback for all of the things he'd done over the years. He could've lived with that, had karma not decided to use his sister in its plans. Living with it, whether she had been hurt or not, was not an option.

Leon was roused from his thoughts as he pulled up a few buildings down from his destination, an abandoned warehouse utilized by the Raven Syndicate. The police hadn't spotted him driving recklessly, thankfully, which would've caused him unnecessary trouble. That stroke of good luck allowed him to focus on the task at hand, which would require every ounce of focus he had. The building wasn't horribly large, but it was bound to be filled with gangsters, even at this late hour. Far less than would be present in daylight hours, but a formidable number all the same. Nonetheless, it was a good target for Leon to hit, as the number of enemies shouldn't be too overwhelming for someone of his skill. His primary target wasn't going to be hanging around, but all Leon wanted to do was send a message, both to Jerome and the rest of the Syndicate. They would learn that pissing Leon Masters off was not a good idea if they sought to remain among the land of the living.

Leon stepped out of his car, taking care to close the door quietly. He wasn't afraid of anyone who might be around, but his job would be a bit easier if no one expected his arrival and the slamming of a car door could be heard quite well in the dead silence of night. He started walking towards the warehouse, but was stopped by the ringing of his phone. He answered the call quickly and dipped into a small alleyway between two buildings, not wanting to give himself away too easily.

"What now?" he answered gruffly, knowing exactly who was calling and why.

"Leon, get back here right now!" his sister ordered. "Are you keen on dying today or something? Do you have a death wish?"

"No, I'm just making a point. If you seriously think I'm letting that fucker get away with what he did, you must not know me so well."

"It's not worth it, Leon. Come home, please. I don't want you throwing your life away." Leon was quite aware of her feelings about his little excursion. She hadn't wanted him to go out in the first place, but this was something he couldn't just ignore.

"What kind of brother would I be if I let this shit slide? Sorry Violet, but that's not the way I roll. That asshole is going to pay."

"So what, you're just gonna march right into his stronghold and shoot him?" Violet asked, her tone clearly indicating how stupid she thought that would be. "That is not the plan of a man who wants to remain alive."

"No, I'm not stupid enough to try something like that. I'm only sending him a message right now. I figure killing a bunch of his peons is a pretty good message," Leon responded.

"No, that's an even worse idea. He'll know what you plan on doing and act accordingly. How does that serve you any purpose whatsoever?"

"Fear, Vi. I want him to feel fear. I want him to know that he fucked with the wrong people and now he's about to pay the price." The malice in his voice was heavily apparent, even to him. It didn't really bug him in this case.

"How about just letting it go, for my sake? We don't need the trouble your actions will bring down on us. This isn't important enough to go storming off about." Though Violet couldn't see it, Leon's face twisted into a look of pure rage, remembering the reason he was out here now, and appalled that she didn't think it deserved retribution.

"He tried to rape you!" he spat out. "There's no fucking way I'm taking that lightly, and you shouldn't either!"

"He didn't succeed," Violet said quietly. "I'm fine. You don't need to go on some wild rampage because of it."

"Sorry, but yes I do. Go lay down, and I'll be back in a little bit."

Violet started to say something else, but Leon cut the connection, turning his phone completely off so she couldn't call him again. He knew she'd keep trying, attempting to cool him off, but there was no stopping this. His rage was boiling, and if he couldn't get to Jerome now, he was going to make sure that the man knew what was coming.

Without further thought on the matter, Leon left the alleyway and approached the warehouse. He walked over to the side entrance, where everyone had to enter at, and raised his hand to knock on the door. He would've rather avoided doing so, but there were no easy ways into the place that wouldn't announce his presence too loudly. Luck was apparently on his side for this endeavor, as the door opened and someone Leon knew well walked out.

"Hey, Mikey," Leon greeted. "Where might you be heading this late?"

"Leon…," Mikey breathed fearfully. "I heard what happened."

"Did you now? How'd you hear about it? Were you there when it happened?" Leon asked dangerously, his hand reaching for the gun in his waistband. He considered Mikey a friend, but if the large man hadn't stepped up for his sister, there was going to be hell to pay.

"A few people are talking about it. I wasn't there myself, but I wouldn't just let that happen, man. You and Violet have been too good to me."

"Good enough to stand up to your boss?"

"Yeah, man. My mom was raped by a boyfriend once. I was too scared to do anything about it, and I've regretted it ever since. I couldn't let someone else go through that kind of pain, especially a friend."

"I see," Leon said, looking thoughtful. "You're a good man, Mikey. I can't really see why you'd join up with people like this."

"I was following my brother, to be honest," Mikey revealed. "I really looked up to him when I was younger, but now…"

"Clarence in there?" Leon asked, pointing at the door Mikey still held open.

"Yeah, he is. He ain't perfect, but don't kill him. I don't know what Mom would do if she lost another kid."

"I'll let him live, no worries. I need someone alive to let Jerome know what happened anyway. Why don't you get out of here? No one needs to know you knew what I was going to do."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Mikey said, stepping out of the way so Leon could get inside. "You know that Jerome's gonna be pissed about this, right?"

Leon didn't answer Mikey's question, closing the door on the chubby man and putting all his attention to the occupants inside. They were all about to become very effective messengers.

* * *

The whole thing took no more than five minutes. Since so many of his targets were sleeping, and Leon had his gun silenced, it was a simple feat to kill everyone inside; everyone except for Mikey's brother that is, who Leon let live as he promised. He told Clarence to let Jerome know exactly what had happened and who was responsible, as well as who was next. At the time, Leon felt it was an excellent idea.

Now, however, with his anger spent for the time being, it was quickly replaced by fear. All of Violet's words were coming back to him, and he was starting to realize that he let his rage get the better of him. He still wanted Jerome to die, but now he saw that his plan was a very poor one. Attempting to incite fear in a man who led a powerful gang was not terribly smart, and retribution was likely already on its way. Leon didn't want to be there when the car full of gangsters pulled up to deliver that retribution.

"Violet, wake up! We gotta get the hell out of here!" Leon yelled as soon as he scrambled into their apartment. "Come on, we don't have time to waste!"

"You went and killed them anyway, despite what I said, didn't you?" Violet accused, having not been asleep at all.

"Yes, I did, and I've only now realized why you said it was a bad idea. Come on, we gotta bounce!" he said hurriedly, grabbing a small duffel bag from the closet and stuffing it full of money from the clothing drawer.

"Dammit, Leon! We could've avoided this, but no. You had to run off half-cocked and blow people away in anger! Real fucking smart!" Violet yelled angrily.

"I don't need that right now, okay? Let's just get out of here."

"Fine, whatever," she sighed. "Let me get some clothes together-"

"No time for that. We'll buy new ones later. Let's just move."

Leon led Violet outside to a where a red Tailgater waited, engine already running. Violet looked around questioningly before turning to Leon. "Where's your Jester?"

"In my lockup," he answered. "I don't want them fucking my car up."

Violet said nothing else, getting into the car quietly. Leon hopped into the driver's seat with a determined look on his face and hit the gas immediately, barely giving Violet time to put her seatbelt on, and foregoing his entirely.

"So where are we going anyway?" Violet asked after they had passed a few intersections without seeing any other cars. Leon didn't answer her for a moment, looking straight ahead as he drove, his brain working overtime to come up with an answer.

"Liberty City," he said after a long period of silence. "I got some connections there, and it should be relatively safe for us."

"Liberty City isn't exactly known for being the safest place in the world," Violet pointed out. Leon knew she had a point, but it was the only place he could think of at the time that had people he knew living there, and didn't require a trip across the whole of the United States. Then again, perhaps such a trip would be better.

"It's all I got for now. We can work out something more permanent when we get there, okay?"

Violet didn't say anything to that, opting to stare out of the window. She spoke up again after a few minutes.

"I'm scared, Leon. I don't want to die."

"It'll be fine. There's no way Jerome will go through too much trouble trying to find us. It isn't worth his time," he said, trying to calm her. Truthfully, he had no idea how far Jerome would go.

"Even if that's true…we probably aren't gonna come back here again, are we?"

"Not anytime soon, no."

The conversation ended there, with neither having much more to say. Even if he did have something to say, what could make this situation any better? All Leon could do was just add this to the list of mistakes he'd made over the years, and hope for the best.


	2. Chapter 1: Finding Some Footing

Chapter 1: Finding Some Footing

* * *

_August 17, 2012_

_Liberty City, Liberty State_

"Do we have an actual plan here, Leon?"

Leon sighed for the umpteenth time that day as Violet posed the question to him, tossing in a few choice words at a car that cut in front of him. He knew she just wanted some reassurance that they weren't flying blind, but Leon didn't really know anymore. It had been a day since they arrived in the city, and the few contacts that Leon had were of no help. Two had died at some point during the last year, one wasn't in a position to help anybody, and the last wouldn't answer his phone. The two of them had barely spent any time in the city, and their options were already exhausted. Things were quickly looking grim, and there was only so long someone could live out of a car.

"Honest answer? Yeah…sort of," he responded, choosing not to elaborate. Violet wasn't having any of that, though.

"The fuck does that mean? Either we've got a plan, or we don't. I don't fancy wandering around the city aimlessly. Liberty City is not the place for that."

"I'm well aware of that."

"So what the hell do we do? Is there anyone else you can call on?"

"Possibly," Leon said. "She's nice enough to help us, at any rate."

"And you haven't called her why?" Violet asked, wondering why he'd leave a stone unturned.

"I have no idea how she'll react to what I did. She might not give a damn, or she might rat us out. No way to know without taking a risk."

"She's connected to the Ravens?"

"Not the gang itself, but Jerome. She's his girlfriend."

Violet let out an angry growl.

"That bastard has a girlfriend? Then why the hell was he trying to get into my pants? And what makes you think she won't be pissed when she hears about it?"

"She's kind of…flighty, I guess. No telling how she'll react, really." He went quiet for a moment, thinking about a question he hadn't had answered yet. "By the way, you didn't really say how you managed to avoid…you know. Jerome's a tough guy, and you aren't exactly packing a lot of muscle."

"I'm not that scrawny," Violet said playfully, flexing her arm to prove it. "And you never gave me a chance to explain, remember. You blew your stack and started pacing around the apartment, muttering threats. Next thing I know, you're taking off in your car, heading off to kill who knows how many people."

"That doesn't explain how you got away."

"He had a pretty heavy statuette on his coffee table. Three guesses as to what I did with it."

"Whacked him upside the head?"

"Sure did." She smiled devilishly, "After using it to smash his balls, that is."

"I can only imagine the pain he felt. It almost makes me feel a little better. Almost."

Violet chuckled at the look on his face, and then got serious once more. "We really do need to figure something out. As risky as it is, maybe you should pay this chick a visit. If it comes to it, we'll just have to book it out of here. Surely you've got contacts elsewhere, right?"

"Well, yeah, but not many, and we'd have to go far to reach them." Leon wasn't keen on leaving Liberty unless the situation became worse than it already was.

"How far would we need to go?"

"Damn far, so let's hope it doesn't come to that. In the meantime, I guess I'll drop by her place. "

Leon made a quick lane change and turned left onto Montauk Avenue, finally ending his circling of Outlook Park, which he'd been doing for the past half hour. With no destination in mind at the time, the repetitive route had been just a good a plan as anything else. In retrospect, it was a bit of a waste of gas, but money wasn't a major issue just yet. That wouldn't be the case for long, of course, and Leon didn't have near enough money to get a place and pay the rent. That called for a source of income, which he couldn't get easily. Sure he could try for a normal, everyday job like most people had, but he had no work experience whatsoever. In addition, six years of making money through less than legal means left him unfamiliar with the concept of a day job, and it wasn't all that appealing. He may not have necessarily liked being a criminal, but the money was far better than some entry level job would provide, and generally amassed faster too. There was also the little fact that putting out more of his personal information than was already floating around could be troublesome for someone with his history.

As he made for the East Borough Bridge, struggling to visualize his mental map of the city, Leon cast a sidelong glance at his sister. He noted that she was wearing a red tank top, a pair of slightly tattered jeans and some cheap flip flops, which made Leon feel even guiltier for having her rush out of their apartment in Cordell without giving her a chance to pack some better clothes. It was a smart precaution, seeing as it took him some time to drop his Jester off at his lockup and he wasn't sure how long it would've taken Jerome to send a hit squad after him. Better alive with one outfit than dead with many.

Several minutes later, Leon pulled up in front of a rundown apartment building on Applejack Street, managing to piss off a fellow driver who wanted the parking spot he took.

"Gotta be faster than that, buddy," he muttered before glancing at Violet again. She was looking out of the passenger side window, not paying much attention to him. He felt like he should apologize again, but she spoke before he could say anything.

"I'm not even looking that good right now, so why do you keep staring at me?" she asked, turning to face him, a wide grin appearing on her face.

"Just realizing that we need to go shopping. We're gonna need some new stuff."

"Let's secure a place first before worrying about that."

"You're cool with not looking your best?"

"I'm still pretty sexy, no matter what I have on. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Sure, whatever you say," Leon said before getting out of the car. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

"Where exactly would I go?" she called back as he entered the building.

It had been a while since he was last here, but Leon vaguely recalled his contact's apartment being on the third floor. He bounded up the stairs quickly, wanting to get this done as soon as possible. If he was extremely unlucky, this would not end well. All he could do was pray that it wouldn't come to that. Not just because it'd bring Jerome down on him as fast as a cheetah, but he'd have one more person to add to his shit list. Big as it was, he didn't fancy expanding it further.

Once on the third floor, Leon found himself momentarily stumped. He couldn't recall the apartment number. A good five minutes passed until he decided to just knock on every door. Unless he was wrong about the floor, he'd find her eventually. Surprisingly, his luck rendered that unnecessary, as he found the correct door on the first try.

"Ooh, lookie what we got here!" the woman said upon opening the door. "It's wonderful to see you again, Leon."

"Nice to see you too, Carmen. Mind if I come in?"

"Of course, of course, come right on in. It's always nice to have a visitor, especially one so handsome."

Leon ignored that comment and walked inside, taking in the small apartment. It was quite a bit more extravagant than he remembered, with several pieces of high value furniture and tons of decorations placed all over. There were even a few paintings that Leon figured had to cost a small fortune hanging on the wall. He couldn't resist commenting on the unexpected sight.

"I take it you have money to burn, eh?"

"Hard not to when your boyfriend is willing to buy you whatever you desire," she said with a smile. "Do you really blame a girl for taking advantage?"

"No, not at all. I do question why you live here in Bohan. It seems like one of the classier neighborhoods of Algonquin would suit you more."

"Perhaps, but living here has its uses."

Leon didn't bother seeking a detailed explanation on that one, not particularly caring what kind of advantages came with living in a dump like this, even if it did look as impressive on the inside as Carmen had her place looking. There were more important matters at hand, and Leon wasn't sure what kind of reaction his words would cause, or even how to breach the subject. She was Jerome's girlfriend, after all, and might take Leon for a liar.

"You've got this look on your face, babe. Something bugging you?" Carmen asked, giving Leon an opening. He decided to go with the direct approach for his answer.

"Jerome tried to rape my sister," he said bluntly, watching Carmen in order to gauge her reaction. To his surprise, she laughed, though it contained no mirth.

"Why am I not surprised? He's not exactly the faithful type."

"It doesn't bother you?" Leon asked, momentarily thrown off balance. Carmen let out an annoyed sigh, her voice taking a steely tone as she spoke.

"The fact that he's a cheating bastard doesn't. I've known that for a while, but it's so much better to use him as my personal credit card than bitch about it. The attempted rape, on the other hand, disgusts me. Anyone who does something like that should be put down like a dog."

Leon couldn't contain the relief he felt. Carmen found Jerome's actions reprehensible as well. That meant that she'd probably do what she could to help Leon. "Listen, I need a major favor, if you can swing it."

"What do you need, hon?"

"A place to stay, for one. My sis and I are currently living out of a car, and we don't have enough money to afford any long term stays anywhere."

"Why exactly are you living out of a car? The last time we talked, you said you finally had things set up nicely back in Cordell."

"I did, but I kinda got a little trigger happy and killed some of Jerome's goons after hearing about what he did. I then made the mistake of leaving one alive to deliver a message to him. When I realized how stupid that was, I grabbed my sister and we hightailed it out of the city. I came here since it's one of the few places I'm relatively familiar with."

"Jesus Christ," Carmen said in amazement. "You do know that Jerome is not exactly gonna take that lying down, right? He's gonna want you dead." Leon nodded in understanding.

"Well aware of that, but I don't think he's really going to bother with too long a search. He has no idea I'm here in Liberty, and it's not as if he's got any presence here."

Carmen didn't give a response to that, which made Leon slightly nervous. She stared at him for a few seconds before walking to her bedroom. Leon remained where he was, wondering what she was doing and if he could get any help from her. After two whole minutes of awkwardly standing around, he heard Carmen call his name, summoning him into her room. When he stepped inside, he was blown away by what he saw. Carmen had a whole arsenal laid out on her bed, ranging from the small stuff like knives and pistols, up to bigger firearms like shotguns and assault rifles. There was even a grenade launcher on the floor, which drew a lot of his attention.

"Holy fuck," he breathed. "Where the hell did you get all of this?"

"Jerome's stashed a lot of firepower here over the years. Guess he just wants to be extra prepared or something. He honestly doesn't need it, so I'm giving you free guns. I got a feeling you'll need them."

"Won't Jerome be kind of suspicious if he shows up and some of his guns are missing?"

"I highly doubt he even remembers half the crap he's left here, plus it isn't too hard for me to come up with a plausible excuse as to where they went if he asks. Please, indulge yourself. There's a duffel bag in the closet if you need it."

Leon thanked the woman for her kindness and looked over his choices. After some thought, two handguns, a shotgun, and two assault rifles went into the bag. A sniper rifle and, despite the thought that he wouldn't actually need it, the grenade launcher were added to his supplies, though they had their own special suitcases. Satisfied with his newly acquired loot, Leon recalled that he hadn't got an answer to his question of a place to stay and posed the question again.

"So, do you know somewhere I can crash or what?"

"Sadly, no, I don't. Unless you don't mind staying here, that is," Carmen said with a sly smile. Leon steadfastly ignored her, idly wondering why she would even suggest it.

"And be here when Jerome shows up to come see you? Horrible idea, not to mention it has to be somewhere both me and sister can stay."

"Ah, right. Well, I can't help you on that front. I can, however, point you in the direction of a friend of mine who could use a guy like you. I assume you're gonna need some kind of income, right?"

"Yeah, definitely. I only have so much on me now," Leon said, relieved at having a chance to increase his funds.

"Then you should pay a visit to Rhys tomorrow. He'll love to meet you." Carmen went quiet for a second, studying Leon intently as if trying to discern something. "Hey, how old were you when we last met?"

"Seventeen," Leon answered. "It's only been about a year since we last saw each other."

"So you're eighteen now, huh?"

"That's right. Why do you ask?"

"It means you're legal now, babe," Carmen said, a hungry tone in her voice. "Which also means that I don't have to feel dirty for what I'm about to do next."

"And what exactly are you about to do?" Leon asked nervously, reaching for his duffel and suitcases.

"Show you things that only a woman like me can," Carmen replied, grabbing his hands and halting his movements. Leon was sure that he could break her hold, but he suddenly found himself unable to move a muscle.

"You'd be surprised at how long I've wanted to do this," she continued, playing with the zipper of his jeans. "I had to resist, of course. You were too young for me then."

"We've only met about six times, tops," Leon noted. "One would think that isn't really enough to want to screw me."

"It was nine times, actually," Carmen corrected, licking him on his cheek.

"Is that really any different?"

"Yes, and you're telling me you've never met a girl and decided right then and there that you wanted her?"

"Can't say that I have. Perhaps I'm just weird like that."

"Well I'm a decisive girl, and I decided I wanted you."

"Didn't you call Jerome's almost rape of my sister disgusting? This isn't all that different from where I'm standing." Carmen halted her actions and pouted. It was a cute look, Leon had to admit.

"I wouldn't force you, babe. I was hoping you'd take the chance to bang an experienced woman like myself. You've got more willpower than most men I've met. Impressive."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Leon said sheepishly.

"No worries, hon. There are other ways to have fun."

"Is that right?"

"Oh, yes. Let me show you…"

* * *

Leon emerged from the apartment building ten minutes later, his face a deep red. That had been quite the new experience for him. He tossed the weapons in the back seat of the car before getting in, struggling to get his blush under control. The look Violet gave him told him he'd failed miserably at that endeavor.

"What happened to you? Your face is super red right now."

"Nothing," Leon replied quickly. A little too quickly, judging by the way Violet's eyes narrowed.

"Your face tells me otherwise."

"It was nothing, really. Carmen just gave me a little…release."

"Carmen was the chick you came to see, right?" Leon nodded. "And by release, you mean…wait, tell me you didn't! You did not have sex with that woman!"

"No, nothing like that!" Leon rushed to explain. "She just showed me how skilled she was with her hands."

"Okay, that's nasty. Sorry I asked."

Leon started the car, too embarrassed to say another word. He pulled away from the curb and made it to the stop sign ahead before realizing he had no actual destination in mind. Carmen gave him a good lead with this Rhys character, but it was far too late to go visiting the man now, with midnight almost upon them.

"I take it we'll be spending another night in the car, huh?" Violet asked coldly. The ice in her voice made Leon look at her, and he was surprised to see her looking far angrier than he expected.

"Nah, I'll spring for a hotel room tonight. I know sleeping in this car is getting old already."

Violet went quiet at that, still looking extremely angry. Leon thought to ask her what was eating her, as it seemed to be more than their current issue, but thought better of it, choosing to focus on finding a place to stay. After a few minutes, Violet spoke up again.

"Did you get anything useful from that woman, or was that trip worthless? Matter of fact, do we need to flee this city too?"

"No, Carmen wasn't happy when I told her what happened. We don't have to worry about Jerome fucking with us for now. I did get some weapons and ammo from her, though. I'm sure they'll be useful."

"I guess," Violet said, not looking at him.

It quickly became apparent that finding a hotel in Bohan would mean settling for something less than appealing, so Leon headed across the Dukes Bay Bridge and into Dukes to find something slightly better. He noticed that Violet still refused to even look at him, and eventually found himself unable to deal with the oppressive silence.

"Vi, what the hell is wrong? Aside from the obvious, I mean. You seem determined to give me the cold shoulder."

Violet didn't respond at first, and for a minute it looked like she wouldn't. Just when Leon was about to give up on getting an answer, she turned to him with a frown.

"What the hell were you thinking, letting that woman touch you?" Leon was taken aback with the ferocity in her voice.

"It's not like I went in there with that intention," he said. "She was pretty insistent. I did turn down her offer of sex, if it makes you feel any better."

"Not by a whole lot."

"Why does it matter so much to you anyway? What I choose to do with members of the opposite sex is my business. I don't need your permission."

Violet's anger ebbed as she took in his words, aware that he was right. "I know that, but I just wish…"

"Wish what?"

"I just want you to be with the right person, that's all. I'm your sister, so I'm going to look out for you, whether you like it or not." Leon couldn't resist chuckling at that.

"I'm the older sibling here. It's my job to look after you."

"You're only a few weeks older than me. You barely qualify as the older sibling."

"I'm still older."

Violet laughed and gave Leon a playful punch on the shoulder, earning an equally playful shove in return.

"I love you, Leon."

"I love you too, sis."

The rest of the ride was spent in companionable silence, neither sibling having much else to talk about. A stroke of luck saw the two find a small motel on Dukes Boulevard which had a vacancy, according to the sign in the window. Leon pulled into the small parking lot, thankful to have found someplace that didn't look too rundown. The two got out of the car and headed over to the main office, though Leon made sure to secure his weaponry in the car's trunk first. He thought about grabbing one of the handguns in the duffel to take inside, but he still had his usual pistol tucked into his waistband, and he figured he'd only need the one. It wasn't as if he was expecting trouble anyway.

"Looking for a room?" the motel clerk asked.

"Assuming that vacancy sign isn't lying to us," Leon answered.

"No worries, I've got a room or two left. Just one bedrooms, though. Hope you two don't mind."

Leon glanced at Violet, who nodded her head. She was too tired to care, probably. "That's fine. We can make it work."

"Alright, then. Number 5's yours," the man said, handing Leon a key with the number 5 on it. "Have a good night."

"You too, sir," Violet said. She took the lead, snatching the key from Leon and heading for the room. She quickly got the door open and slipped inside, her brother right behind her.

"Not so bad," Leon commented upon surveying the room.

"As long as it has a bed and a shower, I'm happy. Mind if I go first?"

"Go right ahead."

Violet gave him a smile and headed into the bathroom. A hot shower would undoubtedly feel nice, though having to put their dirty clothes right back on would spoil it a bit. Leon made it a point to remind himself to drop by a clothing store as soon as one opened. He did make a mental promise not to splurge too much, given his limited dough, but fresh clothing counted as more of a necessity at this point.

Thinking about money brought his thoughts around to the contact Carmen had given him. He had no idea what this Rhys guy was like, as Carmen hadn't really given him a heads-up when she told him about the guy. Leon didn't exactly have many options at the moment, but he hoped that Rhys was, at the very least, not a total asshole. Since he was Carmen's friend, maybe he wouldn't be a bad guy at all. She may have been Jerome's girlfriend, or was, Leon wasn't sure now, but she wasn't a criminal. Odds were that Rhys was just some guy who needed some honest help. Then again, she had said that Rhys could use a guy like Leon. What exactly had she meant by that? Was it referring to his criminal side, or his upstanding traits? Try as he might, Leon couldn't decide.

A thought suddenly occurred to him as he ruminated on his lifestyle. He didn't have a whole lot of people he could call a close friend, but there was one person who'd always been there for him, and he needed to call him. Granted, the guy didn't attempt to reach Leon, but that was probably because anyone would have assumed Leon was dead. Pulling out his phone, he dialed his friend's number. It took four rings before Leon's call was answered.

"This is the Blazin' Asian. Who's calling?" Leon could barely suppress a laugh at that. Did his friend really just say that?

"Do you ever actually look at your phone to see who's calling before you pick up?" Leon asked.

There was exactly five seconds of silence, aside from the music Leon could hear blaring in the background, before an amazed voice said, "Holy shit! Leon, is that you?"

"The one and only. Surprised?"

"Jesus, man, I thought you'd died!"

"You certainly don't seem to be too broken up about it, Kai. Sounds like you're having a party over there."

"I had this party planned out weeks in advance. Why waste a good party just because your best friend supposedly died? I work through my emotional issues during parties," Kai said defensively.

"Yeah, if working through your emotional issues means banging the nearest female," Leon shot back. "What an awesome way to deal with grief."

"Fuck you, I've changed. I'm a real gentleman now."

"Who calls himself the Blazin' Asian. Yeah, sounds real gentlemanly."

Kai Yamato could often come off as a chauvinistic, oddball asshole, but Leon knew far better, seeing as Kai was his best friend. They met when they were five, and had quickly become an inseparable pair, despite Kai's tendencies to say and do completely off the wall things, even at such a young age. As they grew older, it became clear that their personalities complemented each other quite well. Where Leon was the voice of reason of the duo, approaching problems with a level head, Kai was the trigger happy, reckless fool who sought to solve most issues with force whenever possible. Things were kept interesting due to the fact the two could switch roles at the drop of a hat, Kai turning into the reasonable one, while Leon became the berserker. They made the perfect team, to the surprise of many that knew them.

"I'm still working on the nickname. I'll get it eventually," Kai said.

"That's not how it works. Someone else has to give you a nickname. You can't go giving one to yourself," Leon pointed out.

"Says who?"

"It's like an unwritten rule. It's just something you don't do."

Kai snorted. "What a dumbass rule. Who comes up with this shit?"

"Don't know and don't care. Listen Kai, I called you to let you know I'm still breathing and to ask a favor."

"Just name it, man."

"You still got the key to my lockup?"

There was a rustling noise, accompanied by the occasional closing of a drawer. Leon figured that Kai was searching for the key.

"Okay, found it," he said after a few minutes.

"So you just threw my key into a drawer?" Leon asked, slightly shocked. Who just threw keys into drawers with so little regard for what they were used for.

"No, I just…actually, I don't know why it was in a drawer. Weird place to keep a key." Leon could imagine the perplexed look on Kai's face. This wasn't the first time he'd found something important in a strange place.

"Anyway, if it isn't too much trouble, could you grab my Jester out of my lockup and bring it to me?" Leon asked hopefully. He didn't really need the car, but he wasn't about to go stealing another car unless it was necessary.

"No problem, man. Where are you?"

"I'm holed up in Liberty City at the moment."

"That's a whole state away from Cordell, man," Kai stated. "It'll take me about a day to make that journey."

"That's fine. You should probably grab it now, while it's nighttime. It'll be easier to avoid anyone watching you." Leon didn't actually know if Kai was being watched, but it was a possibility. Jerome and the Ravens knew they were friends.

"Don't be so paranoid. No one's watching me. Just stay where you are and I'll be there in a flash."

"I'm staying at this motel over on Dukes Boulevard, called the Red Hawk Motel."

"I know where that is. Hang tight, Leon." There was a loud barking sound in the background, accompanied by an odd sort of…laughing. What the hell was that?

"Shit, someone's let the hyena out. I gotta go take care of this, but I expect to hear the full story of whatever happened to you when I get there. Later, bro."

"Kai, what the hell are you doing with a hyena?" Leon asked, but the connection had already been cut. Leave it to Kai to have some strange animal at his party.

The bathroom door opened and Violet stepped out, dark hair still slightly wet, and wearing a towel around her waist.

"Your turn," she said.

Nodding, Leon got up and went inside. He turned the knobs in the shower, getting the temperature just right, then removed his clothes and hopped into the cascading water. As the warm water hit him, Leon could feel his muscles loosening up and some of his stress leaving him. He took his time in the shower, savoring the warmth, though he got out before the twenty minute mark. After drying off, he considered leaving his dirty clothes where they lay, but he figured Violet wouldn't appreciate having him walk around in his boxers. To his surprise, Violet didn't seem to have the same thoughts in regards to her appearance, as she sat on the bed in only her towel and a black lace bra.

"Really?" he asked, figuring she'd get what he meant.

"Oh, am I bothering you?" she questioned back with the tone of one who already had the answer to their question.

"A bit, yes. Mind putting on your clothes again?"

"No way. You'd said we get new ones tomorrow, or today, I suppose you'd say now. I'll get dressed when we leave, but I'm sleeping like this."

"Do you at least have your pants on under the towel?"

"Nope. Now, can we get some rest?"

"Yeah, sure. I guess I'll just sleep on the floor," Leon said, making to grab a pillow off the bed, but Violet stopped him.

"Don't be an idiot. We can manage with one bed for tonight."

Leon opened his mouth to protest, but the look she gave him shut him up. Feeling incredibly weird, he lay down on the bed next to Violet, though he stayed on top of the sheets.

"Good night, Vi," Leon said.

"Good night, Leon," his sister responded, quickly drifting off. It didn't take Leon long to follow.

* * *

**A/N: **_This may seem OC-centric right now, but that'll change soon enough. If you don't mind OCs, then I guess it doesn't matter._


	3. Chapter 2: A Real Liberty City Welcome

**Chapter 2: A Real Liberty City Welcome**

* * *

**A/N: **_Here's the second chapter, or third if you wish to call the prologue a chapter. This is the point in which the action starts to heat up in the story. You also get the first appearance of a GTA character here, as well as an OC I've been fond of ever since I conceived him. He only appears for two bits in this chapter, but he'll be seen much more, along with characters GTA fans know and (generally) love. Alright, on with the story!_

* * *

_August 18, 2012  
_

It was with great embarrassment that Leon found himself awakening in the most awkward position he'd ever been in. Sure, the time he woke up in a trailer out in the San Andreas countryside, stark naked and unaware of the exact events that led to that situation was pretty damn awkward, but at least he had been by himself. This time he wasn't, and he was fairly certain that if he didn't work his way out of this particular position quickly, it would get far more awkward than it needed to be.

The unsurprising part of this morning was that Violet was still asleep. This was normal, as Leon had always been the early riser of the two, even when they were younger. No, the abnormal part of the morning was the fact that Violet had her body pressed tightly up against his, one leg and an arm draped over him. Leon guessed that she'd been having a good dream and had simply came to be in such a position because of it, but it didn't make it any less weird. There was also the question of why he failed to notice this at some point during the night, but it was very likely that he was too deeply asleep to register anything. The most important thing at the moment was to carefully extract himself without waking her, as he figured she'd probably overreact and be unable to even look him in the face for hours after that.

Leon moved gingerly, doing his best to avoid waking Violet, but that turned out to be very unavoidable. The minute he broke away, Violet's eyes fluttered open and she greeted him with a smile. Aware that she wasn't entirely focused just yet, Leon waited for the inevitable wide eyes and pronounced blush that he was sure to see. It therefore came as quite the shock that he saw neither; Violet simply yawned and removed her leg and arm off of him, getting up in the process.

"Well, that was a refreshing slumber. Sleep well, Leon?" she asked, stretching her limbs. Leon was speechless for a second, a little disappointed that he was denied seeing her look embarrassed. It would've made for a funny picture, at the least.

"I slept fine, though I think you were the only one to have a good dream," he answered with a smirk. "Was it as good as I think it was?"

"Oh yeah, very good. It wasn't a dirty dream or anything, but it was certainly nice."

"I suppose dreaming about spooning with some guy would be a nice dream for you. Who was the lucky guy?"

"Someone who probably wouldn't ever let me get that close in real life, at least not on purpose." Her tone was wistful.

"Whoa, you dreaming about celebrities now?"

"Of a sort, I suppose."

Violet didn't volunteer anything else and Leon wasn't nosy enough to pry any further, so he let the matter drop. Whoever the guy, dreaming about him had at least put Violet in a good mood.

"I just realized that we don't have any toothbrushes," Leon said as he moved to begin his morning routine. "We'll need to pick some up later."

"We can grab some later when we go shopping," Violet said. "For now, we can just chill here and watch some TV. I'm sure the clothing stores won't be open for another couple of hours."

Leon took a look at his watch, noting the time as twenty minutes past six. Most clothing stores wouldn't open until nine or ten o'clock, so they did indeed have some time. This became a problem for Leon in mere minutes when Violet decided to remove the towel she had worn to sleep, revealing the black lace panties she had on which matched her bra. Leon groaned in protest to the action.

"Nope, not gonna roll with this. You either put that towel back on, or you put those jeans on, because you are not about to walk around in nothing but your underwear."

"Don't be such a prude, Leon," Violet said, making no move to cover herself up. "I wouldn't stop you if you felt the need to go around in your boxers."

"Yes you would, because that'd be just weird and uncomfortable for you. Don't try to say otherwise." Leon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I bet you're just fucking with me, aren't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't really know." The smirk on her face told Leon she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Do you get a kick out of messing with me? Is it that fun of a game?"

"Considering you're so easy to fluster, I'd say yes."

"I see. Okay, I'm going to sit in the car. Enjoy all the prancing around I'm sure you're about to do." Leon took a few steps toward the door, but Violet took hold of one of his arms, stopping him.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop. Jeez, you act like you've never seen me in such a state before. Hell, we've seen each other naked at one point, remember?"

"And whose fault was that?" Leon asked pointedly. "You just had to go waltzing in my room while I was changing clothes, while you yourself were naked! Exactly why was that the case again?"

"I didn't know you were home. Surely it's perfectly acceptable for me to walk around in the nude when you aren't around, right?" Violet asked with a serious look on her face.

"I'd prefer if you didn't. I'd also prefer if this line of conversation came to a screeching halt. What do you say, eh?"

"Sure, sure," Violet said, turning her attention toward the TV, which she turned on with the remote. Several seconds passed in silence before she added, "At least I didn't bring up how big I realized you were."

Leon actually yelped at that. "You what? Vi, I don't really need to hear that from my sister!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. It's not too big."

Leon opened his mouth to say something, realized what she said, and began opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, at a complete loss for what to say. Violet watched him with mischievous eyes, breaking into uncontrollable laughter within moments.

"I have one hell of a weird sister," Leon finally managed to get out after a while. "Are you done yet?"

Violet merely nodded, still laughing hard. When she did stop, she kept her word and let the conversation die once and for all.

* * *

Once ten o'clock came around, the duo left the inn and headed over to Algonquin in order to do some shopping and enjoy themselves a bit, something they hadn't done for a while, even while they were back in Cordell City. Their first stop was Modo, where Leon picked up a few pairs of jeans, some plain tees of varying colors, a jacket, and several pairs of sneakers. Violet settled for three pairs of jeans only, choosing to spend the bulk of the money Leon gave her at a store called Fantastic Fashions. Leon didn't get to see everything she bought, as he refused to venture inside the incredibly feminine looking shop, but he groaned when Violet came out of the place wearing a white halter top and black tights that showed off her curves, along with a pair of black heels.

"You must like attracting attention, don't you?" Leon said when she got in the car.

"Only certain people," Violet replied.

"Yeah, well I hope I don't have to go shooting anybody for coming on to you. I don't think that dude you met six months back will ever forget me."

"You did shoot him in the balls. I'd be reluctant to forget you under those circumstances too. If it makes you feel any better, this is the second of only two sexy outfits I bought."

"Seriously? What's the first?"

"That's my secret for now. I'm saving it for a special occasion."

Leon just shrugged, not horribly curious about her other clothing choices. He instead turned his attention to finding a place to eat at. He settled on the Vinewood Bar and Grill, a fairly upscale restaurant in Star Junction. It wouldn't be too major of a hit on his wallet and he and Violet would get a good meal.

They filled their time with pleasant conversation, trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy in their new situation. It couldn't last forever, sadly, and Leon soon dropped Violet off at the motel and found himself pulling up in front of an unassuming home on Altona Avenue in the Northern Gardens district of Bohan, where Carmen told him her friend Rhys could be found. Leon approached the front door, knocking politely on it. The door opened within seconds, revealing a young man in a brown hoodie and gray sweat pants on the other side.

"You must be Leon," the man said. "Been waiting for you to show up. I've got a job that needs doing quickly, and I need a reliable guy to handle it."

"I'm as reliable as they come," Leon said, walking inside. "Rhys, I take it?"

"Yes, that'd be me. Carmen told me a little about you last night. Said you were one hell of a guy and that I wouldn't go wrong by hiring you. Tell me, was she right?"

"Just give me the job, and I'll get it done."

"That's all I need to hear." Rhys sat down on his couch, taking a long drag of an already lit cigarette. "I got a couple of acquaintances that came into the city a day or so ago. They're here to purchase a few kilos of coke I got my hands on a while back."

"You need me to watch over the deal?" Leon asked, taking a guess at the job.

"No. I want you to see to it that I get the money and keep the coke."

"You do realize that'll be somewhat of a problem for your acquaintances, right?"

"Well, I did promise to welcome them to Liberty City the best way I know how." Rhys laughed darkly, putting out his cigarette. "Not my fault if they don't predict my more…selfish tendencies."

Leon kept his face blank, letting no emotion get through. Deep down, he found the job less than appealing. Even if Rhys and these people weren't the closest of friends, killing them just to keep his product was incredibly sad.

"They'll be waiting in the playground over at the Firefly Projects in Broker. Get over there, put a few holes in those guys, and nab the cash. Make sure you don't bring the police back here if you get spotted," Rhys ordered.

"I'm not an idiot. I got this," Leon said before exiting the house.

As soon as he was outside, Leon let out a weary sigh. He found Rhys incredibly annoying, and he hadn't spent more than a few minutes with the man so far. Leon hoped he wouldn't have to put up the guy for long. Finding another employer was a new top priority, though it still lagged behind finding a suitable place to live.

Pushing his problems to the back of his mind, Leon started up the car and made his way toward the Firefly Projects, making sure to check his mental map of the city to avoid getting lost. His map still needed a lot of work, he had to admit. Though he knew Bohan and most of Dukes well, his knowledge of the other two boroughs in Liberty City was quite lacking, especially when it came to Broker. He really only knew the neighborhoods of Outlook and South Slopes, and that was only because he had two separate shootouts in both areas that took him all through them.

Leon took his time driving to his destination, taking in the sights. It had been a year and a half since he was last in Liberty, and he had only come that time because Kai had gotten in some trouble and needed help. It wasn't a simple journey that time either, as Leon had been all the way across the US, over in the state of San Andreas, and had to scramble to nab a flight back to Liberty. Kai still owed him for that incident, now Leon thought about it. He'd have to remind him again when they saw each other later.

All too soon, Leon found himself outside of the run down projects, right around the corner from the side the playground was on. He sat in his car for a short while, surveying the area. He wasn't looking forward to this job, and it wasn't just because he was ordered to kill some guys over some cocaine. Leon couldn't put his finger on why, but something felt off about this setup, as if things were about to go very wrong. It was a sudden and unexpected feeling, but Leon had long since learned to trust his gut in situations like this. If his gut was indeed right, and it normally was, this would not go the way Rhys expected it to. Unfortunately, there was little that Leon could do differently, short of going inside the adjacent apartment building and trying to get a good vantage point. Even if he did, it would most likely make his job of leaving no one alive harder, as he'd have to aim incredibly quickly in order to keep any of his targets from fleeing out of his line of sight. No, there was only one way to do this, and it would be the direct way.

Leon grabbed one of the spare pistols from the duffel in the trunk and stuffed it in his waistband with his personal one, making a mental note to get some holsters at some point for safer carrying, and walked over to the meeting area. Three men awaited him, but Leon felt that there was at least one more around somewhere. He couldn't see anyone else around though, and the three parked cars he could spot looked empty. Leon kept his guard up anyway.

"Who're you?" a man with mousy brown hair asked.

"I'm here on behalf of your buddy, Rhys," Leon explained. "He wanted me to let you guys know that he planned on coming himself, but some last minute business demanded his attention. I trust there are no problems with me handling things?"

"Rhys said he'd welcome us personally," another man said, this one short and scrawny. "Surely he could've put his business off 'til later."

"It was some kind of limited time deal he got offered. It couldn't wait. Now, can we get this deal going? I've got a life of my own, you know."

"I don't see no coke in your hands," Mousy pointed out. "Where is it?"

"In my car. I don't bring out the goods until I've verified that the money is real. That's the way I work."

"Clint, show him the money," Mousy said to the third man. Clint opened the suitcase he was holding, allowing Leon to see the stacks of money inside. Leon made to get a closer look, but Mousy held him back.

"You get to touch it when we see our coke."

Leon shrugged. "Fair enough. Give me a sec to go get it."

He turned around, took three steps, then stopped and waited.

"Something wrong?" Scrawny asked.

"No, I just remembered that Rhys asked me to give you a message," Leon said, still facing away from the three.

"What's that?"

"Fuck you."

Leon spun around, pulling out his pistols and firing off a few rounds as he did so. Scrawny went down with a bullet to the heart; while Clint had two bullets pierce his left legs, sending him crumpling to the ground. Mousy had better luck, only getting hit in the right shoulder. He pulled out his own gun and returned fire, causing Leon to hit the ground rolling in order to avoid the shots. Mousy kept up the covering fire as he worked his way over to the downed Clint, probably to see if his friend was still alive. Leon was forced to hop the fence and hide behind a nearby car.

From his vantage point, he watched as Mousy tried to drag Clint along to what was presumably their car. The fact that it was a two-seater vehicle didn't seem to mean much. When Clint proved to be too much of a problem, Mousy gave him up as a bad job, took the money, and bolted for the waiting car. Leon swore loudly as the car started before Mousy even hopped in it; there had been another man waiting. Leon moved as fast as he could to reach his car, not bothering to take any shots, aside from downing Clint permanently. The success of his mission would be decided by the outcome of a car chase. Leon hated car chases with a passion, especially when he had to do both the driving and the shooting.

"Why can't things ever be easy?" he asked aloud as he started up his car and went in pursuit of Mousy and the money.

It took no time at all for the chase to hit the Broker-Dukes Expressway, where Leon knew they'd head to. For whatever reason, people always headed for the crowded freeways and high traffic roads, thinking to use fellow drivers as obstacles for pursuers. It made sense, and did often work, but usually through dumb luck. Sometimes a car would come out of nowhere, disabling somebody or someone would be too unskilled to evade traffic and end up wiping themselves out.

This was why Leon preferred to avoid car chases at all costs, as the chances of him getting killed in some unexpected accident were a little too high for his liking. A car accident due to his own ineptitude was one thing, and something he personally didn't see happening, but dying by doing something he knew was a very poor idea was something else altogether. It was such an issue for him that he once made a personal promise to shoot himself if he ever had a choice between doing something the hard but safer way and the easier but dumbass way, and chose to do it the dumbass way. Thankfully, that hadn't happened yet, but there were some times when a few of the easy options he'd taken started out sensible and ended up being stupid in the end. Those incidents didn't count, because how was he to know how things would work out before things actually played out.

"I hope you fucks realize that this is only pissing me off!" Leon yelled as a few shots came through his windshield, missing him only due to the poor aim of whichever of his targets were firing. A quick look told him it was Mousy.

"Okay, you die first, you son of a bitch!"

Leon rolled down his window and took fired off a few rounds. He had never been all that good at aiming when driving and it came as no major surprise to him that his shots went wide, missing their intended target. To make matters worse, Leon could've sworn he heard sirens blaring from somewhere behind. A quick glimpse back revealed no following cop cars, but it was only a matter of time before they arrived on the scene. This chase needed to end, and it needed to end now. The problem was that his options were slim, given that he might not nail a shot to disable either the driver or the car itself, and trying a P.I.T maneuver would be tricky due to his car's slower speed. A Tailgater wasn't the slowest vehicle around by any means, but a Cheetah definitely outstripped it. The only reason that Leon still had them in his sights was due to the heavy traffic slowing them down. It wouldn't last of course, especially with much of the traffic moving towards the exit for Francis International Airport. The bastards were likely going to escape, or so it initially seemed.

Leon wasn't entirely certain how he managed to avoid an accident in the minor chaos that followed, but Mousy and his buddy certainly weren't that lucky. Leon saw how they tried to dart around a car that just happened to be changing lanes simultaneously, which made Leon put on his brakes immediately. As his car grinded to a halt, he watched the Cheetah he was chasing and the PMP 600 it tried to pass smash together in a violent meeting of metal. The PMP, being a stronger car, got off comparatively lightly in the crash, but the Cheetah was pretty much wrecked due to the contact. It had been knocked away into several other cars, ultimately resulting in the thing flipping right onto its roof. Leon didn't move for what felt like several minutes, out of both shock at what happened and out of fear of getting run over by a car if he stepped out too soon. Somehow, no one had slammed into him yet. When he saw Mousy exit the upturned vehicle, still clutching the cash, he was spurred into action. He wasn't the only one, however.

The driver of the PMP got out of his car as soon as Mousy emerged from the Cheetah, and the guy was uninjured and looking positively pissed. For his part, Mousy didn't look too scared as he pulled out his gun and started threatening the man, looking rather angry himself.

"You idiot!" Leon heard Mousy say. "Don't you know how to drive?"

"I'm not the one you need to be asking that question to," the stranger said. "And I suggest you get that gun out of my face before I break your fucking hands!"

Mousy started to retort, then he saw Leon approaching and switched targets. Before he could even get off one shot, Leon had already taken aim and fired, as did the stranger, who pulled out his own gun with cat-like agility. Two bullets entered Mousy's brain, ending the man's life.

"Hey, thanks for the assist," Leon said to the stranger as he walked up, putting his gun away. The stranger did the same before giving a response.

"I thought he was going to shoot some innocent person. I wasn't going to stand by while he tried."

"That makes you the first truly decent person I've run into in this city." Leon picked up the case of money that Mousy dropped, giving it a quick inspection. "At least as far as random encounters go. It's nice to see."

"One act of kindness doesn't make me a decent person, not with my past." The man looked at the case. "That yours?"

"Nah, just what I was asked to get. It's, uh, kinda my job."

"I know the feeling. I still find myself doing jobs like that occasionally, though I'm trying my best to escape such a life. You're a little young for this type of thing, aren't you?"

"I'm eighteen, so no, not really." Leon heard the sound of sirens getting closer and spun around, seeing several police cars making their way up the expressway. He started jogging back to his car. "Looks like I need to get moving. You need a ride?"

The man looked at his car, which was still intact aside from a busted front wheel. That wheel would make it difficult to drive, so he nodded and accompanied Leon to the red Tailgater. Leon quickly pulled away from the site of the accident, taking advantage of some gaps in the still stopped cars to maneuver over to the exit and leave the expressway behind. He had driven a few yards before remembering to see if the driver of the Cheetah was dead. Rhys wouldn't be too happy if someone survived and tried to get payback. Luckily, the sound of a sudden explosion put those fears to rest.

"Car must've caught on fire after leaking some gas or something," he said. "I hope no one got hurt."

"I think you shouldn't get your hopes up, friend. At least it wasn't your fault," the stranger said bluntly.

"I was chasing them though. 'Course, it isn't my fault the guy driving sucked at it, or that he chose to hit the expressway."

"That is true."

"So, where can I take you?" Leon asked.

"Here at the airport will be fine. I can call my cousin from here," the man responded.

"You sure? It's no trouble if you need me to drop you off somewhere specific."

"No, it is alright. I planned on visiting my cousin today anyway. Thank you, though."

Leon just shrugged and made his way to the airport parking lot. As the man climbed out of his car, Leon spoke again.

"Hey, I never caught your name. I'm Leon. Leon Masters." He held out his hand.

"Niko Bellic. Nice to meet you, Leon." Niko shook the offered hand.

"Same here." Something Niko mentioned back on the expressway popped into Leon's head and he saw a chance to expand his contact list a bit. "Hey, you said that you sometimes find yourself doing jobs like mine every now and again, didn't you?"

"Yes. I always seem to find myself drawn back into the life somehow. Perhaps it is my penance for all that I have done. Why do you take on such work?"

"This life is what I'm used to, I suppose. Hard to break certain habits, you know? Anyway, I was hoping that if you find yourself needing a partner or something on one of your jobs, you can call me up. I always need more opportunities to make cash."

Niko pulled out his cellphone. "Sure, if you'd like. I can't promise anything, though. I'm trying to leave this life behind."

"That's fine. I'm sure there's more work for me to find out there."

The two exchanged numbers and said their goodbyes. Leon had a feeling that he'd be seeing Niko again soon, despite what the man might've believed. The criminal lifestyle had a way of keeping one firmly ensconced within, though Leon had not yet felt the need to leave it. It was what he knew, and he was good at doing the various jobs that came his way. He wouldn't fault Niko for wanting to escape, though. No one deserved to be trapped in a lifestyle they despised.

Leon put those thoughts in the back of his mind for now, and made his way back to Rhys' home to deliver the cash. Though the job description would've been classified as an easy one, the way it went made it anything but. Hopefully he'd get a good payment for his work, or did it count as Niko's work? The man was responsible for the crash, sort of. Eh, he wasn't the one who spent his time and energy chasing folks. Leon was getting the money for this one, which turned out to be less than he would've liked. Rhys refused to give him no more than $200 for the job. Leon initially started to protest this, but thought better of it and simply left. Rhys was the only employer he had right now, and he couldn't afford to piss him off. Leon knew that he'd just have to get used to doing shitty paying jobs for a while. Once he built up a name for himself, the real dough would be made.

Despite the poor pay, it hadn't been too bad of a day so far. It only got better when he arrived back at the motel to see his Jester sitting in the parking lot. Kai had arrived, which perked him up. A quick look at his car yielded no sign of damage, so that was to be thankful for. Kai was a good driver when he wanted to be, but he didn't generally make that choice and was more than a little crazy when he got behind the wheel. Leon was glad that Kai had chosen to handle his car with care.

Leon's fairly good mood evaporated instantly as soon as he walked into his and Violet's temporary residence, seeing the worried look on Kai's face when the young man turned to face him. It wasn't a look that Kai wore too often.

"Kai, what's wrong? Your face tells me you've got some fucked up news," Leon said, taking a seat on the bed. Kai fixed Leon with a fearful stare, saying nothing for several seconds. Leon returned the look in kind, getting increasingly nervous, until Kai finally spoke.

"Leon, I've got some bad news for you." His look momentarily changed to one of pure panic, and his voice lowered to a whisper.

"I left cupcake crumbs in your car."

Tons of laughter and a heated "Fuck you, Kai" followed.


	4. Chapter 3: Down to Business

**Chapter 3: Down to Business**

* * *

**A/N: **_So...yeah, it's been a while. However, this story has not, and will not, be abandoned. I refuse to do that anymore, unless it is absolutely unavoidable for some inane reason. So don't worry about updates stopping altogether. Now, as to the actual story, this chapter marks the start of the story starting to pick up steam. Well, the end of it does, at least. From Chapter 4 onwards, the action will start to develop much faster than it has been. Hopefully you guys like what I'm doing here. If not, feel free to mention it. Reviews do keep me appraised of what works and doesn't, so consider leaving one after reading. I will try to respond to any reviews I get, but it may take a little while, so please don't be miffed if you don't hear from me immediately. Now, enough of my rambling. Let's get on with the story!_

* * *

"You must find yourself hilarious," Leon told Kai sourly as they walked around the Monoglobe in Meadows Park. Kai wanted to see it again for some unknown reason, and Leon decided he'd like to see it too. Violet chose to remain at the motel, citing the need to finalize some plans she had in the works. Leon wanted to know what those plans were, but she refused to give him any information.

"Damn straight, buddy. I'm the funniest guy you know," Kai responded with a smirk. The young man had found his joke about cupcake crumbs highly amusing and had teased Leon about his reaction all the way to the park. Leon didn't see it as amusing as his friend did.

"I thought something serious had happened, with the way you were looking at me."

"You love that car like a mother loves her children. I thought it was a serious issue."

"Vacuum cleaners render it a non-issue, Kai. Don't be stupid. By the way, why exactly are we here?"

"Looking for something I left around a here a few months back."

"What makes you think it's still here?"

"It's only been like four months since I last visited. I'm sure I'll find it sooner or later."

Leon frowned slightly, wondering exactly where Kai would hide something and what he felt the need to hide. Knowing him, it'd be either something stupid, dangerous, or both. Besides that, there wasn't exactly an abundance of hiding places around the park. In fact, short of tossing something into one of the pools within the park, one really couldn't hide a thing around here, and Leon wasn't keen on wandering around without a clue for too long.

"Fuck, where is it? I could've sworn it was around here somewhere," Kai said in frustration. "Maybe I shouldn't have used a green one…"

"Where exactly is it supposed to be?" Leon asked.

"In a tree. Where the hell else would I put it?"

The two continued to look around the area surrounding the Monoglobe for another twenty minutes before Leon asked Kai to give it up. Kai talked him into spending another ten minutes searching, during which they still found nothing. Just as Kai was finally ready to call it quits, he absentmindedly looked up into a nearby tree and yelled in triumph.

"Ah, there it is! Knew it was in one of these trees somewhere."

With impressive skill, Kai scrambled up the tree to retrieve what appeared to be a forest green backpack. Leon couldn't help but think that his friend resembled a monkey with the way he moved, but kept that thought to himself. When Kai leaped down from the tree, he had a wide grin on his face.

"You couldn't pay for a better hiding spot," he said happily.

"Somehow I doubt that. So what's in it anyway?"

For an answer, Kai opened the backpack and pulled out a sub-machine gun.

"You hid a gun in there? Really?" Leon questioned with incredulity.

"Not _a_ gun, but two guns and four grenades," Kai said, showing Leon the contents.

"Kai, what the hell? What if someone found your stash?"

"Then they'd get some free self-defense equipment. I have plenty of other stashes in the city, so it wouldn't be a big issue."

"Sure, aside from the fact that somebody would find themselves in possession of a few fucking grenades! Where'd you manage to get those anyway?"

"You really need to ask? You haven't gone and forgotten who my father is, have you? I've got plenty of connections through him."

Leon couldn't deny the truth of that. Kai was the son of Hidehiko Yamato, the second-in-command of the Yakuza, otherwise known as the waka-gashira. This made Kai a very powerful figure, or at least someone one wouldn't wish to mess with due to the possible repercussions. It also put Kai into contact with several powerful people within the criminal underworld, making the eighteen year old a formidable person for his young age.

The interesting thing about Kai was that, even though he easily could've, he chose not to abuse his status as the kid of a prominent member of the Yakuza. When problems arose, he handled them himself instead of calling on his dad. It made him stronger, and gave him an advantage when facing down those who took him for a pampered daddy's boy. Leon highly respected this strength and independence.

"Okay, so that explains the grenades. That doesn't explain why you felt the need to go hiding them in such a public place!" Leon exclaimed as they walked back to the car.

"I'm not stupid, man. I used a green backpack. Unless someone was really looking for it, they wouldn't see it."

"Once summer ended and the leaves changed color, that thing would be easily spotted."

"Leon, I planned for that. Do you really think so low of me?"

"No, but you don't always make the best of decisions."

Kai was thoughtful for a moment, his gaze turned upward.

"Alright, I'll give you that one," he said after a while. "My track record isn't spotless, but at least I try."

"Like that time you attempted to burn down that house and caused it, and the one next to it, to explode instead?" Leon asked as they approached his Jester.

"How the fuck was I supposed to know there was explosives in both those houses?"

"How about that time you punched that clown, making his whole posse of clowns come after us?"

"Nobody would've guessed that they were gangster clowns. That was just bad luck."

The two climbed into the car and Leon quickly sped off, heading back to the motel. He thought about changing the course of the conversation, but he was having too much fun pointing out some of Kai's more foolish actions.

"Let us also not forget that incident in San Fierro, when you had that dude chasing after us with a damn shotgun because you just had to go try and fuck his wife."

"The bitch didn't bother to point out she was married, did she? And don't give me no bullshit about looking for a ring on her finger because I checked and I didn't see one."

"You know what the funniest part about that was? Neither the guy or his wife seemed to notice you were only sixteen." Kai laughed at that one.

"Oh she knew. She had a taste for younger men, man."

"Moving on," Leon said quickly, "I hope you remember that time you tried to fight with a katana."

"I agree that I could've gone better."

"And there's also the trip we took to Brightcrest Falls, when you…"

"Okay, enough! You swore you'd never bring that up ever again!"

Leon finally shut his mouth, pleased with himself. It was always hard to get Kai to admit to his mistakes, so this was a rare victory.

* * *

After returning to the motel, with a quick stop for a pizza along the way, the three friends ate and chatted about whatever came to mind. Kai was as ridiculous as Leon knew him to be; he told some outrageous story about him rescuing a bunch of people from a bank robbery that no one believed. It kept the laughter going, so no one called him on his obviously fake tale.

"Kai, I've been wondering something for a little while now. What is up with your red hair?" Violet asked after his story was done.

"You're just now asking? I've had it for like two months now!"

"We haven't actually seen each other in about three," Violet pointed out. "You're always busy."

"Ah, I guess that's true. Sorry 'bout that," he murmured, tugging at a lock of his hair. It was a shade of red that was in no way naturally found on people. "Well, I felt the need to shake it up a bit, you know? I mean, when the three of us got together, there was no pizazz. Our little group needed some color."

"Is that your way of telling Violet and me that we're racist?" Leon asked with a smirk. Kai backpedaled instantly.

"No, no, no, no. Not what I meant and you know it. I was talking about the fact that we all have black hair, you dunce. I just thought I'd change up a little, make myself pop."

"I think it works pretty well," Leon said, still smirking. "You pop so much that all our enemies aim straight for you when we're on jobs together. Probably saved my life a couple of times last month."

"Don't laugh, buddy. If that's true, you owe me big time. Now, I've given you a story, so I want one in return. What exactly did you do to piss of Jerome so much?"

Leon quickly explained the situation to Kai, surprised his friend didn't demand an explanation when he first arrived. When Leon was finished with his short tale, Kai grinned appreciatively.

"You're a regular badass, Leon! Totally fucking awesome!" His tone became more somber as he addressed Violet. "Sorry you had to deal with that, though."

"It's fine," Violet said coolly. "I stopped him before he got anywhere."

"Come to think of it, you're a virgin too, aren't you?"

"Kai, who just busts out a question like that?" Leon inquired. "You can't really say that's any of your business."

"Doesn't bother me if he wants to ask," Violet said. "For the record, I am. I have no plans to give it up until I find the right guy. Wait, I take that back. I already know who the right guy is, but I have to convince him that he's right for me."

"I assume you're talking about that guy you were dreaming about last night?" Leon asked.

"Whoa, you were dreaming about somebody?" Kai, who had been leaning on the wall, took a seat next to Violet on the bed and switched over to the most feminine voice he could muster. "Ohmigosh, you have to tell me everything! Like, spill!"

"Thanks, but no thanks. Some things a girl's gotta keep to herself."

"I'm a little curious myself," Leon said. "As your big brother, I should take an interest in guys you like."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you when the time is right. For now, I'm still working on things."

"Fine, I can understand the need for secrecy. I do have my theories, so I'm not entirely in the dark. Besides, you should ask Leon about this girl named Scarlett; see how much he tells you."

"Don't bring that up, please. I have no desire to even think about her."

"Of course you don't." Kai looked at his watch to check the time, frowning. "It's been fun, but I gotta jet. There are some things that need taking care of."

"Oh? What's up?" Leon was curious as to what Kai had to do. He had only just got into the city.

"I'm putting that stash we went to collect to some good use for a friend. Shit's gonna get wild, baby!"

"You want some help?" Leon offered.

"Nah, this job won't take long to complete. I can use your help with something I gotta do in a couple of days though. It'll be a hell of a job, with good money to boot. Would you be interested?"

"Of course. Just give me a call when you're ready."

"Gotcha. Alright then, I'm outta here. Later." Kai stood up and prepared to leave, stretching out before heading over to the door.

"Oh, what are you gonna do about a car?" Leon asked Kai before he could exit, remembering that Kai brought no car of his own. "You wanna take the Tailgater?"

"Thanks, but I've got it covered. I already called Stevie and he's got something lined up for me."

With that, the young man made his exit, leaving the two siblings to their own devices. The room was quiet for a moment as Leon wondered what to do with the rest of the day, but Violet decided to speak first.

"So, about this Scarlett girl…."

Leon just groaned loudly, cursing Kai for bringing her up.

* * *

The next week passed by in relative quiet, with Leon doing little more than sitting around the motel room and watching TV, though he did pay Rhys two more visits in which he was given easy drug running jobs that he wasn't paid very well for. Kai hadn't got in contact with him since initially arriving in Liberty, which made Leon worry somewhat. He didn't give it too much thought though, as Kai was known to go off the grid suddenly, usually for no other reason than to annoy those who might be looking for him.

Leon was really getting tired of his current situation, as working for Rhys didn't seem like it would yield much profit. He needed to find another employer, and fast. Not just because he needed the money, but because Violet was getting progressively harder to be around. It wasn't due to her becoming moody or anything, but rather because she was becoming too clingy. Leon chalked it up to her being trapped in the same room with him for too long a period, and eventually decided that she needed to get out for some fresh air.

"Vi, I'm not gonna say it again. Take the Tailgater, and go do something fun," he told her on the fifth day of their stay. "You're going crazy in here, and you need to clear your head."

"Sure, if you come along with me. It'll be boring without you," she pleaded, not too keen on going out on her own.

"What kind of girl wants to keep hanging out with her brother? I think you need some alone time; get reacquainted with yourself."

"You're making it sound sexual."

"No, I'm not. If I wanted to make it sexual, I'd tell you to go touch yourself."

"And telling me to get reacquainted with myself isn't close enough?"

Leon glared at her.

"Okay, I have a question for you. Why does everything somehow manage to be turned into a sexual thing for you? Is your mind just always in the gutter?"

"No, not at all," Violet replied with a grin. "I just like making you all unsettled. Highlight of my day, really."

"Take these keys and go already," Leon said with a sigh. Violet just stared at him for a few moments, looking as if she'd continue to protest. To his relief, she finally took the keys he dangled in front of her.

"Fine, I'll go and amuse myself somewhere, but only on one condition."

"What's the condition?"

"You have to take me to see a movie."

"Fair enough," Leon said, though there was some suspicion in his voice. Something about the glint in Violet's eye made him think there was more to her request.

"And I want to see that new Penny Carmichael movie when we go."

Ah, there it was. She would choose the one thing he didn't want to see.

"Can't we negotiate this? You know I hate those sappy-ass romance flicks."

"No Penny, no cooperative Violet."

"Alright, you got a deal." Leon sighed once more. He gave in easily, but he had to if he wanted Violet to actually leave. Maybe he could talk her into seeing something better later. "You suck, you know that?"

"Yes, you've let me know that many times before," she said before waltzing out of the room with a ridiculously happy look on her face.

"Weirdo…" Leon murmured, moving to sit down and watch TV. Unfortunately, a quiet morning alone wasn't in the cards, as no sooner as he took his seat his phone chirped, announcing the arrival of a text message. Leon took a look at it, smiling when he read it:

_Leon, you said you wanted in on this. Meet me in front of Perestroika in fifteen minutes. Big ass payday with this one!_

Kai's text was more than welcome, as a big payday was certainly needed. Money didn't grow on trees, and Leon's supply was slowly running out. In addition, the shitty pay he received from Rhys made doing jobs for the man nearly worthless, so getting a new contact would be great. Leon quickly readied himself to venture outside, taking care to check his pistol before leaving. All of his heavier weaponry was still stashed in the Tailgater's trunk, but Leon figured that Kai would take care of any additional weapons that would be needed.

A quiet morning alone was no longer possible, but this was a much more lucrative way to spend it.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Leon awaited Kai at the burlesque club, growing more and more impatient with the red headed young man. It wasn't exactly unusual for Kai to be late to a meeting he arranged himself, but it was still annoying. Was it too much to ask for Kai to be on time for something? Leon hoped that this job wasn't time sensitive, as they could already be screwed.

After another ten minutes passed, Kai finally made his appearance, coming into view from around the corner and holding a black garbage bag. Leon initially chose to keep his question about Kai's tardiness to himself, but upon seeing the disheveled look his friend sported, decided to find out just what had kept him.

"You're twenty-five minutes late. What the hell were you doing?"

Kai let out an angry growl. "Let's just say that if I get the chance, I will personally end the Angels of Death will extreme prejudice."

"Aren't the Angels of Death a motorcycle club?" Leon couldn't fathom what Kai would be doing clashing with them.

"Yeah, they are. I've been systematically eliminating the fuckers ever since they targeted me some time last year," Kai said.

"Why the hell would they target you? You're not a biker, unless you've made some life changes recently."

"I rode alongside a buddy of mine once, just to help him out. We got attacked by the Angels, and a new rivalry was born. Those assholes like taking shots at me whenever they get the chance."

Leon couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of his friend being a biker, even unofficially. The whole motorcycle scene didn't suit him.

"Matter of fact, I should introduce you to my friend," Kai said thoughtfully, getting into Leon's car. "He could use some help in wrapping up his business here and he pays well enough. We can worry about that later, though. Right now, we got a job to do."

"What exactly is our job anyway?" Leon asked as he entered the car.

"We're stealing a small cache of weapons from some Russian bastards. Shouldn't be too hard, provided we move quickly. Take us over to Wappinger Ave., and get ready for a firefight."

Leon took off, slightly nervous about this mission. He wasn't looking forward to antagonizing the Russian Mafia, especially when he already had one criminal organization after him. Of course, this was probably unavoidable given his line of work, unless he ended up working for the Russians. Since he didn't know anyone in the Russian Mafia, that was an unlikely prospect. At any rate, it wasn't fear that made him nervous, but the idea of possibly getting on the bad side of another large group. Small, unimportant gangs were of little issue, as they didn't usually possess enough muscle to be overly threatening to anyone other than inexperienced civilians. This was different.

"Don't sweat this so much, Leon," Kai said as they pulled up in front of a nondescript apartment building. "This'll be as smooth as a baby's ass."

"You say that now, but I'm sure shit will go horribly wrong and we'll have to deal with some fucked up odds."

"I won't deny that there is a distinct possibility of that. It's exactly why we're going in armed and motherfucking dangerous."

Kai opened up the garbage bag he held and pulled out a classic pump shotgun and an Assault SMG. He held them both out to Leon. "Take your pick."

Leon took the sub-machine gun, preferring not to leave the automatic weapon in Kai's hands. He was a good shot, to be sure, but if he got overexcited he'd often start firing wildly with whatever weapon he held. Leon actually thought that Kai knew exactly what he was doing and just liked to go crazy. Nevertheless, it was best to let him hold the shotgun, as he wasn't dumb enough to fire that recklessly, especially in a tight space.

"Tell me that's not what I think it is," Leon said, spotting Kai grabbing something else out of his bag that looked suspiciously grenade-like.

"Might prove useful up there. You never know when you need to quickly clear out a room," Kai responded, confirming that what he held was a grenade. "I promise not to blow us up with it."

Leon chose to say nothing else on the matter, trusting Kai to use the thing wisely. "You know where we're headed. Lead the way."

Kai led Leon into the building, the two managing to attract no attention from people on the street despite being armed. Inside, they made their way up the staircase to the fourth floor, where Kai guided him over to a door marked with the number 409. They stood outside of the door, gathering their wits.

"Alright, here's how we're gonna do this," Leon started, taking charge. "You bust down the door and hit 'em hard. I'll come in behind you and finish off anyone who survives your shotgun assault. Sound good?"

"Fine by me, though I'd personally just lob this grenade in there and let it do the work," Kai said, holding the small explosive up.

"Have you just gotten all bomb happy since the last job we did together or something? Normally you're all for shooting some shit up."

"I'm still keen on putting holes in fools, but I have this intense urge to blow something up, that's all."

"Save it for the next job. For now, just stick to that shotgun."

"Sorry baby, looks like you'll be waiting a bit longer to have that pin pulled," Kai said to the grenade as he put it away. "Oh, and the next time we gotta go through a door, you're the one busting it down, alright Leon?"

Without waiting for an answer, Kai stood in front of the door and mustered his strength, kicking it open with one forceful kick and immediately unloading with his gun. Of the five people in the room, two fell to Kai's blasts right off the bat. One managed to toss himself behind a couch, while the two that were left standing aimed their weapons to take Kai down. They didn't have a chance to do anything else other than aim as Leon rolled in and ended their lives with two short bursts of his SMG. Kai then inched over to the couch the last guy had hidden behind, suddenly performing a dramatic dive around the side of it that caught the guy off guard and allowing Kai to dispatch him with little effort.

"That was too easy. Way too easy," Leon said, searching the apartment for any hidden foes.

"And you're complaining about that?" Kai asked with disbelief. "We never get lucky like that, so don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"The fact that we've never been this lucky is what worries me," Leon countered. "It seems too good to be true that we'd actually have one mission that didn't go sour on us after all the shit we've been through."

"You're being extremely paranoid, man. There's a first time for everything, and this is the first time we have an easy job all the way to the finish. Now, let's take a look at this cache."

Kai plopped down on the couch and regarded the small wooden crate sitting on the coffee table for a moment before gingerly opening lifting up the lid in order to see its contents. Upon getting a good view, he whistled loudly.

"What'd you find?" Leon asked. "Damn thing doesn't look like it's holding much."

"Not if you're looking to find the usual shit you'd expect from a weapons cache. This, however, is less a cache of weapons and more a cache of serious fucking explosive power. There's nothing but Sticky Bombs in this crate."

"Damn," Leon said, walking over to take a look. "I'm not sure whether to be more worried about what the Russians planned on doing with these, or what your employer wants to do with them."

"I wouldn't sweat it too much," Kai advised. "The less we know, the easier it is to claim ignorance if the police get ahold of our fair employer."

"That's assuming we aren't the ones to end up using this shit in some other job down the line, which you know is exactly what's gonna happen."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Sometimes this kind of thing seems like something right out of a video game. Nevertheless, we should probably get moving before someone gathers the balls to call the cops."

Leon opened his mouth to agree when he heard voices coming from the hallway. Neither he nor Kai had seen it important to close the door, so the voices were loud and clear and getting very close.

"Shit, hide somewhere!" Leon hurriedly whispered, scurrying into the bathroom and closing the door just enough to see the living room without being seen.

"Element of surprise and all that, eh? Alright then," Kai said to himself, choosing to hide behind the couch. Leon just shook his head at his friend's choice of hiding spot.

The approaching entities were just about outside of the door now, and they were sounding slightly nervous.

"Why's that door open?" one voice asked aloud. "Are those Ruskies that stupid?"

"No one's that fucking dumb," said another voice. "This don't look right. Watch yourselves, boys."

The sound of guns being cocked was heard as three men entered the apartment. Kai tensed slightly, looking ready to pop up and shoot, but he maintained his position for the moment. Leon watched the three as best he could from his hiding place in the bathroom. Something about the three men alarmed him immensely, but he was unsure of exactly why that was at the moment.

"Holy shit! What the fuck happened here?" one of the men yelled in shock.

"I'd say that's pretty clear, if you aren't an idiot," another said. "Obviously, someone raided this deal before we arrived. Whoever it was made quick work of the Russians and scampered off."

"But they left the goods," the third man said. "Why shoot up the place and not take the prize?"

"And we didn't pass anyone on the way up here," the first man added. "They didn't leave the normal way, that's for sure."

"Perhaps they took to the roof," the second man ventured. "Or…perhaps they heard our approach and are still here."

Leon was worried for Kai, as he was basically right in front of them and would easily be seen the moment they moved past the couch. Kai was aware of this as well, and decided to reveal himself first, though that idea was close to suicidal.

"Don't shoot, okay guys?" he called out. "I'm not here to cause trouble…for you three, at least. Didn't even know anyone else was coming." Kai rose from his position slowly, leaving his shotgun on the floor. Leon realized that Kai was being a distraction and creating a chance for an ambush.

"Didn't know we were coming, eh? Now why don't I believe you?" the second man, obviously the leader, asked?

"How should I know? I don't do your thinking for you. That's what you have a brain for."

"A smart-ass, huh? You're either very brave, or very stupid."

"I've been called both over the years."

Leon had to stifle a laugh at that. It was certainly the truth.

"I'll bet. So, what exactly brought you here today, my friend? You would've caused us quite a problem had you got away with these explosives, to say nothing of the way it would look to our Russian friends."

Kai stared him down without flinching. "I heard these guys were packing some heavy duty equipment, and I wanted it for myself. I had no idea they'd already set a deal up when I came to claim the goods. My bad, dude."

"I see. Well, I guess you just had some unfortunate timing today. Normally, I'd let you walk away since you haven't done anything to me personally, but this," the man indicated the bodies around him, "would be difficult to explain without proof of things. You, I'm sorry to say, will have to be that proof."

"Can I just write a statement?" Kai asked with fake hopefulness. "I really don't fancy meeting the Russian Mob face to face."

"Afraid not. I will do you a favor though." The man pointed his gun directly at Kai's heart. "I'll drop you here and now. Trust me when I say it's better to die at my hand than to be tortured by the Ruskies for killing their own."

Leon chose that moment to reveal himself, bursting out of the bathroom with his gun blazing. Kai had the sense to hit the ground as soon as he heard the door hit the wall, but the other guys weren't as quick. Leon dropped one instantly, taking a second down while the guy was struggling to fire his gun, which had chosen that moment to jam. That left only the leader still alive, who had managed to avoid any serious wounds by diving out of the doorway. He raised his gun to put a bullet in Leon, but neglected to remember Kai, who picked up his shotgun and ended things decisively.

"Knew you'd be on top of shit," Kai said confidently. "Now we can get these stickies out of here without issue."

"Kai, we may have a major problem," Leon said worriedly, staring at the three newly lifeless bodies.

"Why's that?"

"Because I know these guys. They're Ravens."

"Ravens? As in the Raven Syndicate Ravens?"

"Yeah. Looks like they're in Liberty City."


End file.
